


First Comes Marriage...

by beargirl1393



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake Marriage, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 16:42:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6864061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beargirl1393/pseuds/beargirl1393
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Legolas needs a date to his reunion, since he doesn't want to show up alone. Gimli, loyal friend that he is, agrees to pretend to be his husband.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Comes Marriage...

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [diemarysues](https://archiveofourown.org/users/diemarysues/pseuds/diemarysues) in the [2000GigolasFics](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/2000GigolasFics) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Fake married trope, y/y?
> 
> Went with a modern AU for this, since I couldn't think of a way to do fake marriage in Middle Earth. May have to go back and try that sometime, though. 
> 
> Also, the title will probably change, it's just the first thing that came to mind, based on the kid's rhyme 'first comes love, then comes marriage' etc. I tweaked it a bit for this.

“Remind me why I agreed to do this?” Gimli asked, tugging irritably at his bowtie. He was dressed in a tux, an honest to god tux, and he could barely remember the last time he’d worn it. His sister’s wedding, most likely, and that had been three years ago.

He was getting old if his baby sister had married before him. Even if he was getting fake-married right now.

“Because you’re my last option, and if I don’t have wedding photos to show off at this reunion, I’ll never live it down,” Legolas replied, still fiddling with the camera, dressed in his own tuxedo. “We can discuss our story about our marriage once we are finished staging the photos.”

“Way to make a man feel wanted, Leggy,” Gimli said dryly, rolling his eyes and batting away Legolas’ hands when the other man tried to help him with his bowtie. “It looks fine, if it gets any tighter I won’t be able to breathe.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” Legolas asked, exasperated and entirely failing to hide the small amount of amusement he felt. Gimli had heard someone else calling him ‘Leggy’ once, and from that point on, he’d claimed the nickname as his own. “And you know what I mean, Gimli. These people are petty and live for gossip. For once, I’d rather not be the one gossiped about just because I’m not married yet.”

Gimli rolled his eyes again but he did understand. His family could be a bit nosy, after all, and even if they weren’t petty and inclined to gossip, he’d still heard ‘when are you going to settle down?’ more times than he really cared to think about. “Still, for your ‘plan’ to make up a story about our marriage, we should keep it as close to the truth as possible. Easier on both of us, and has less chance of us slipping up.”

In essence, it was a simple plan. Legolas had a reunion to go to, at the private school that he’d gone to when he was younger. He hated going alone, but currently had no significant other to take, and if he just showed up with a friend, he would be on the receiving end of dozens of pitying glances and the target of gossip until a juicier subject passed through.

To avoid that, he had asked Gimli, who was already planning to accompany him as a friend, to pose as his husband. It had taken a fair amount of pleading, but Gimli was a good man and he always helped out his friends to the best of his ability. This was no exception, and so they were both dressed in tuxedoes to take a photo that Legolas would claim was their wedding picture. The event itself was less formal, so they would change before they left, but right now, he just wanted to make sure that everything was perfect.

And, if fussing over little details kept him from focusing on how handsome Gimli looked in his tuxedo…well, he didn’t have to admit to it, at least.

~~~~

“How did you survive years in the same school as those people?” Gimli asked, his tone faintly horrified as Legolas parked outside of the house that Gimli, along with his two cousins, were renting. All three had wanted their independence from their parents, and as they were all roughly the same age, it made sense to room together.

“Ignoring them, for the most part,” Legolas admitted, sighing softly. “As well as borrowing Father’s ‘You are all beneath my notice’ look.” Gimli had seen that look before, it was very impressive. “It’s been so long, though, I forgot how draining it is to act like I am friends with them when they are all so petty.”

“You did what you had to do to make it through,” Gimli said simply, looking over at the slim blonde. “High school is a terror for everyone, quite often. I was lucky, Fili and Kili were around the same age as I am, so we could stick together. You didn’t have that, so you had to find other ways to make it through.”

“I may just skip the next reunion,” Legolas murmured. Although, this one did have the advantage of allowing him to kiss Gimli, at least on the cheek, and not have to worry about whether his looks to the other man were too obviously adoring or not.

“Oh, I don’t know, there were some good parts to tonight,” Gimli said, grinning. “The food was good, and don’t try to tell me you didn’t enjoy dancing and showing all of them up.”

Legolas had to smile at that, it had been enjoyable, he had to admit. And having Gimli there meant that he had someone to banter with and generally talk to when he couldn’t be bothered with the politics in the room.

“That party had something else going for it,” Gimli added after a moment, his expression uncharacteristically hesitant. Legolas was about to ask what, but Gimli continued in a rush before he was able to. “Getting to see you in a suit.”

Legolas looked down at himself reflexively. While his outfit was much more casual than the tuxedo he’d worn for their ‘wedding photo’, it was still more formal than his typical jeans and t-shirt. He’d noticed Gimli giving him a few appreciative glances throughout the night, but he had assumed it was just another part of their act. Now, however, he was reconsidering that assumption.

“I think this night was worth it just to see you in something other than that ratty AC/DC shirt,” Legolas teased, smiling to take the sting out of the words.

“That shirt is great and you’re just jealous that you don’t have one,” Gimli retorted, chuckling. “Now, I’m going to do something potentially stupid, so just stop me if you’re uncomfortable.”

Before Legolas could question that comment, or even make a witty comment, Gimli was leaning forward and it took less than a moment’s thought for Legolas to realize where this was going and to lean in as well.

Their first kiss was a bit awkward, but he expected that. The second one was much better, and the third better still. And if Legolas’ car was still parked in the driveway of Gimli, Fili, and Kili’s house the next morning…well, they would just say that their marriage was getting off to a good start, and laugh at the spit takes that Fili and Kili did.

Perhaps this wasn’t what Legolas had expected when he asked Gimli to pretend to be his husband, but he certainly wasn’t going to complain. And, perhaps, one day, the photos wouldn’t be faked.


End file.
